Submission 972
I believe that under the proposed changes, my NDIS funding will be taken away from me. The new system will assume that I am not disabled enough, decided by a computer and by people who do not know me, without the input of my care team or the experts and therapists who have known and helped me for years.
I will not only have my funding taken, but with it my future and my independence.
As a direct result of the NDIS supports I have received, I have been able to attend university. I have learnt life skills. I have received therapy supports for an eating disorder and self-harm.
My life is better and more meaningful because of the NDIS. I can go out, twice a week, as any of my peers might. My parents have been able to have brief respite from their caring responsibilities, which if I was not disabled, may have ended.
I cannot go to medical appointments without help. I cannot socialise without support. My Occupational therapist has said I will need many more lessons to learn to drive, more than any non-disabled peer, and more than I can afford.
If I lose my funding, I believe that the consequences will be the crushing of the future I have been working towards.
I have walked into a on fire shopping centre in the last year, because I was so focused on escaping the sensory nightmare of the crowd that I could not see the dangerous situation people were avoiding which had created it. I cannot cross the street on my own, or drive a car, because my perception of distance and timing is so poor. I cannot take my medication on my own. I cannot seek medical care without support. At one point in my life I had a broken bone go untreated for X days, because I could not verbalise my pain or need for help. I struggle even with support to manage part time university and a mere few hours of work per week. I need support to maintain my personal hygiene and to continue learning the skills of adulthood.
I cannot manage money. I cannot navigate websites or systems like Medicare, taxes, or centerlink.
I am a burden to my parents.
I cannot move out, and need support for basic communication with school, my employer, or family.
My mother works part time, and this is only possible because of my supports I currently receive. I do not know what will happen if I am cut – but I know her ability to work and build a future for
Submission 972
herself will be diminished even further. There is no reasonable parental expectation on her anymore. I am an adult. I am at the mercy of her continuing to choose to shelter, feed, and support me. What happens when she is no longer able or willing to do this?
The NDIS has improved my life and my families beyond what I can speculate. If I am allowed to continue receiving support, perhaps one day I could be independent. At the least, I would be less dependent.
I have worked in co-design and advocacy since I was a teenager.
It feels to me now that this was for nothing. The government has lied to us, betrayed us, and once again the disabled community are your scapegoats.
Explain to me how these cuts create more engaged support workers.
Explain to me why punishing victims is how you are setting out to deal with fraud, when you won’t even separate fraud and mistakes from each other, so you can pad your statistics.
Explain to me why my life and my future, my parents’ future, and my siblings, is too burdensome.
Should we just die? Are you pleased with the recent murder suicides? Is this not what you wanted? I see no meaningful behavioural evidence that this is not acceptable collateral damage to the government.
I am scared. I want to live a good life. I want my parents to have their lives back. Why is that to much to ask?
Why is expert evidence instead of a jerry-rigged computer system administered by NDIA staff who have not received the full recommended training and have an incentive to cut costs to much to ask?
The NDIA lost X% of ART cases on decisions to remove supports, and so rather than respect these rulings and consider if this massive loosing streak has implications of the agency being in the wrong, these changes will simply remove problem. First from the scheme, then, as they have no more community access funding, from society.
I love the NDIS. I think it’s a beautiful thing. The promise that was made, I think, is essential to Australia’s ability to consider itself a first world country.
It needs to be sustainable. I am willing to be part of the solution finding towards this. So many
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disabled people are. The NDIA CEO made 808,000 dollars last year. The next two highest paid officials made a combined 1046500 dollars. If we want to look at the cost of the scheme, should we not look at the bureaucrats and the deals made with large companies? Why start with the vulnerable people we are supposed to be supporting?
But gutting the scheme is not the solution. People are dying. More will come. The disabled community is ready to work with you. Work with us meaningfully.
Thank you for the chance to make submissions – it is not enough. This is not meaningful.
Nothing about us without us was supposed to mean something. It still could. If you choose to work with us.
I want the NDIS to be sustainable as badly as anyone in parliament. Because what will my life look like without it?
No ability to leave my house. No chance to learn to drive. Living with my parents as long as they allow it, always aware that I am a burden and always aware they could revoke their help. Unable to socialise. Unable to go to university. Unable to work. Unable to manage the paperwork and logistics of my life. Unable to manage my finances.
I do not want to die at this time. I cannot say that will remain true without support or hope to improve my life and reach my goals.
I have the following questions for you:
If supporting me is to expensive, what is my life worth to my government? What is the monetary value assigned to me? I would like to know the number.
Excluding mistakes, what is the amount of actual, deliberate fraud? How does that compare to other social programs such as Medicare and Centrelink? Why is the NDIS your focus?
Do you deny that autism is a disability? Do you acknowledge all the research and previous statements made by the government affirming it is a disability?
If you accept that autism is a disability, why are you removing support?
Are we going to be removing our signature from the WHO CRPD, to align with these changes you are proposing?
Submission 972
Is there a number in mind of children you find acceptable to die at their parent’s hands because you are removing their support? When that is surpassed, will something be done? Or is it okay, because those children were disabled?
These are genuine questions.